Putin sends ?Chechen? special operation forces to SyriaFri Dec 09, 2016 05:26 | The SakerThis SITREP was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/putin-sends... Very interesting news today: according to the journal Izvestia, Russia will be sending operators from the so-called “Chechen” special forces battalions

Moveable Feast Cafe 2016/12/08 ? Open ThreadThu Dec 08, 2016 21:30 | Herb Swanson2016/12/08 21:30:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

UN Official tweets false picture from Gaza.

The international effort to delegitimize Israel continues apace. No lie, no Israeli blood libel is too low to stoop in the effort to undermine Israel's very existence and right to defend herself. The latest falsehood is different though; the source is a UN official, a paid Media Co-ordinator. In her personal capacity, of course.

The false tweet

Khulood Badawi works for the OCHA – the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as an Information and Media Coordinator. Her role is mainly the documenting of human rights abuses and she has a long history of activism in various Palestinian NGOs.

On 10th March last week, she posted a link to a picture of a young girl covered in blood being carried by her father, along with the tweet: “Palestine is bleeding. Another child killed by #Israel... Another father carrying his child to a Grave in #Gaza.” The tweet and the dramatic photo trended strongly, was re-tweeted hundreds of times and became the top Gaza related tweet for the day.

Except, of course, it wasn’t true. Israeli bloggers discovered the picture was published in 2006 by Reuters and was of a Palestinian girl who died in an accident completely unrelated to Israel. (She fell off a swing.)

The reaction since this embarrassing detail emerged has been interesting. Not a peep from Badawi herself. No retraction, no apology. Complete radio silence on her twitter and facebook accounts.

Meanwhile, UN-OCHA seemed unperturbed: “. . . Badawi’s page, “Long live Palestine,” is her personal site. It was not tied to the U.N., said Ramesh Rajasingham, head of the office where Badawi works.
“It is regrettable that a U.N. staff member appears to have posted inaccurate material on her personal Twitter feed,” Rajasingham said. “However, this information does not in any way reflect the views or opinions of the United Nations, nor it has been sanctioned by the organization.”

Well that’s all right then, isn’t it. A UN official, supposedly independent and paid by the world’s taxpayers, can post blatantly false propaganda about Israel and nobody bats an eyelid. All part of the delegitimization effort I suppose. Perhaps some good will emerge, the next UN agency to criticise Israel (they usually do) might receive a more sceptical response.

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er...where did THAT conclusion emerge from?Are not your eyelids batting rather furiously?

If this is true, which it may well be, it would not be the first false post on the issue.

But it does not change the facts on the ground of Israel's crimes against the incarcerated civilian population of Gaza and its ongoing dispossesions on the West Bank. Or do you deny these Israeli created facts on the ground because this single piece of evidence may be spurious?

Your eagerness to clasp this incident(who fed the feed?) indicates an exceptional joy at its arrival...almost that of a proud parent.

No doubt this is proof Israel has no nuclear weapons, no military checkpoints, no settlers terrorising, no mobs storming Al Aqsa..oh and Rachel Corrie was not bulldozed into the ground on this very day in 2003 ..for defending a Palestinian family home.

The habit of re-purposing old photographs and videos for current-day events is widely used and abused across social media. Few people stop to check the veracity of a photograph or video before spreading it to their friends, especially if they believe it originated with official spokesmen or political officials.

"I guess some people just thought it was a good video that got across the point and they didn't care if it wasn't actually from that day of fighting," said Keren Sharon, a 23-year-old student in Tel Aviv who re-tweeted a video of a barrage of rockets being fired from Gaza into Israel. She first saw the tweet on the official account of military spokeswoman Avital Leibovich, the head of the foreign desk for Israel's military.

"I saw it on her account and figured it was safe to think it was real, considering this was the head of the Israeli military. But it turns out it wasn't," Sharon told McClatchy Newspapers.

It emerged that the Israel Defense Forces first uploaded the video to YouTube last October.

Responding to the photo posted to her account, Leibovich said in a statement to the news media that she thought there was nothing misleading in the post.

"Launching a rocket does not differ whether it happened in November, July or now," she said. "These organizations posted these clips themselves, maybe to recruit new people or boost morale, I don't know, but I never claimed that the events took place in the last few days."

A few hours earlier, Leibovich and other pro-Israeli bloggers had seized on a misleading photograph that United Nations information officer Khulood Badawi had posted on Twitter.

The photograph of the man holding his bloodied and limp daughter in a hospital included a caption that said the girl had been injured that morning in an Israeli airstrike.

But Avi Mayer, an Israeli Twitter user, quickly pointed out that a Reuters photographer had taken the picture on Aug. 9, 2006. The image, Mayer said, showed a girl who'd been injured falling off a swing set and later died.

He said he didn't think there was a moral equivalent between what the Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman did, which he called a "minor sin of omission," and what Badawi and others did, which he called "completely fabricated information."

Pot kettle contrarian?

as your bible says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"

I won't even mention that Israel has been busy bombing the shite out Gaza yet again killing at least 27

And if that little girl wasn't killed by israeli bombs and guns, this little boy certainly was!:

"A seven-year-old Palestinian boy in the Gaza Strip has died from wounds sustained during an IDF strike on terrorist operations in the coastal territory this past weekend, Gaza news portal Al Resalah reported, raising the death toll of last weekend's spasm of violence between Gaza and Israel to 27. "

Hardly an apples for apples comparison, lefty. The IDF officer posted a video of a Palestinian rocket being fired. It WAS a video of a Palestinian rocket being fired. The UN media officer posted a picture of a girl allegedly killed by an Israeli airstrike. It was not a picture of a girl killed by an Israeli airstrike. Her death had nothing to do with Israel.

The IDF officer made no claim about WHEN the rocket was fired. The Palestinian UN media officer SPECIFICALLY said that the child’s death had occurred that morning. It hadn’t.

Being a media officer charged by the UN to disseminate information from this highly controversial part of the world, you’d think she would be well aware of the necessity for rigorous fact checking. The fact that she didn’t speaks volumes. The fact that the UN seems unconcerned is also disturbing – surely it must be concerned at the damage to any reputation it may have left for impartiality and independence.

And regarding the figure of 22 terrorists killed; there's unlikely to be any "naughtyness" there as the terrorist organisations are usually quick to proclaim their fallen heroes as "martyrs" and their names will be prominently listed on websites etc.

@opus:
That’s some collection of straw men you’ve assembled there. Why a false tweet from a Palestinian UN worker might be capable of proving or disproving the existence of Israeli nukes, or anything else you mention, is beyond me. Stick to the point. The false tweet is what it is, nothing more. It proves merely that every anti-Israel story you see should not necessarily be taken at face value. No matter how biased one might be.

Delving deeper, the failure of the MS to pick up this quite interesting story COULD be evidence of a systematic anti-Israel bias. Like when 4 Israeli civilians (one pregnant) were killed in an gun attack on their car and the Irish Times relegated the story to a few paragraphs on page nine.

And was Rachel Corrie's life more important than the Israeli kids blown to bits on buses or in pizza parlours by yet more "martyrs"?

..all facts on the ground. And I accepted its not the first time Palestinians let propaganda loose when they should be more honest...but there is a considerable diference between occasional lapses in justified anger and concentrated organised hasbara ops funded and promoted by a state apparatus...and Rachel Corrie is mentioned for the day thats in it.

I never have and will not support ANY terrorism..but do support the Palestinian right to resist the daily round of oppression they face.
They have no need of propaganda..zionist facts on the ground obviate any need.

This 'quite interesting story' would not be picked up by you if it did not serve your pro-zionist stance.

And you tell me to 'stick to point'..as you wheel in your bus load of kids???A wee trace of consistency?

Moath Nofal Abo El-Eash, 20 - Moath has injuries from burns all over his body, particularly on his face and splinters in several parts of his body.

Tamer Azzam, 17, He has shrapnel to the face and side and burns to both legs. Doctors were obliged to partially remove his intestine

Saleh Qarmout, 15

Moyad Al-Qanoo, 16 - injuries caused by second degree burns on the face and on the legs. He has shrapnel in various parts of his body.

Hani Al-Qanoo, 15 “We were coming back from school along with 6 of our companions when suddenly a drone hit us,” said Hani. ”I had the sensation of flying.” The doctor told us that Hani has a fractured femur in his right leg and several burns caused by t

The injuries in the photos are indeed horrible. I imagine equally horrible photos (probably even worse) could be produced of the thousands of Israeli civilians killed and injured in various Palestinian terrorist suicide bombings and missile attacks. But that wouldn't really get us anywhere, would it?

Worth bearing in mind, though, that the very purpose of most Palestinian military actions is to kill and maim Israeli civilians. Relatively few actions are directed at military targets. On the other hand, when Israel launches airstrikes or other attacks, the targets are mostly always combatants on the Palestinian side. The combatant/civilian ratio for Palestinian and Israeli attacks would bear this out.

Of course there are going to be some civilian casualties of Israeli attacks, but these are not the purpose of the attacks. Nor does Israel try to maximise civilian deaths. Unlike, as I say, the missile fire from Gaza. And civilian casualties will be increased when Palestinian militants deliberately store and launch their weapons in densely populated civilian areas.

So, yes, your pictures make unpleasant viewing. But, don't you think at least PART of the blame must lie with those Palestinian terrorists who launched over 300 missiles and mortars on Southern Israel this week. Is Israel supposed to just sit back and let that happen? Is it not entitled to defend itself and strike back (at military targets, not civilian?) Or are there special rules that only apply to Israel?

"I imagine equally horrible photos (probably even worse) could be produced of the thousands of Israeli civilians killed and injured in various Palestinian terrorist suicide bombings and missile attacks. But that wouldn't really get us anywhere, would it?"

You're the one trying to pretend that someone posting a picture from 2006 is somehow a relevant issue - yet when shown pictures from RIGHT NOW, March 2012, you're all of a sudden dismissing of such pictures

According to you Contrarian:
Pic from 2006 = Very Important
Pics from March 2012 (RIght NOW) = Not a big issue, there's loads like em

What is happening Right Now is of more import than 2006 - waffling on all sanctimonious about some picture from 2006 is all well and good ifrom a trolling perspective but it doesn't really get us anywhere, does it?

""You're the one trying to pretend that someone posting a picture from 2006 is somehow a relevant issue - yet when shown pictures from RIGHT NOW, March 2012, you're all of a sudden dismissing of such pictures

According to you Contrarian:
Pic from 2006 = Very Important
Pics from March 2012 (RIght NOW) = Not a big issue, there's loads like em

What is happening Right Now is of more import than 2006 - waffling on all sanctimonious about some picture from 2006 is all well and good ifrom a trolling perspective but it doesn't really get us anywhere, does it?""

Now, that's not really a fair or accurate analysis of what I wrote. It is not the picture's original date of 2006 that makes it relevant - it is the fact that it was claiming to show the aftermath of an Israeli attack, when in reality it was nothing of the sort. THAT'S what makes it a relevant issue. That and the fact that it came from a UN official who is paid by the taxpayers of 190 odd countries to give objective and accurate information on the situation in Israel/Palestine.

Nor am I dismissing the pictures from RIGHT NOW. I merely pointed out two facts, neither of which you addressed or even atttempted to refute.
1) Equally distressing pictures could be found of Israeli victims of Palestinian atrocities.
2) Palestinian militants must bear a large share of the responsibility for the injuries in the 2012 picures - it would be entirely unreasonable to fire hundreds of missiles at Israeli civilians and not expect a military response with some inevitable civilian casualties.

Or, to use your words, the 2012 pictures ARE a big issue. But there are other big issues too.

Me, Jesuitical? LOL, I've been called worse, I suppose. Nope,never was called to the religious life. Thought about it when I was a young fella but the celibacy thing didn't really appeal to me. Mind you, if I had known how optional it seems to be..... But that's another story.

Anyway I'd only be trotting after your good self in obsession with matters religious. As for "casuistic sophistry" well, let's deconstruct one of your own sentences.

And those Gaza 'missiles' are squibs compared to the high-tech arsenal they oppose so feebley.

A) why use inverted commas for the word missiles. They are real missiles, with real explosive warheads, that can cause real injuries and real deaths when they hit. I'm sure if one was heading your way, you'd regard it as pretty threatening and not a mere squib.

B) Then there's your clever juxtaposition of the Gaza "squibs" versus the Israeli "high-tech arsenal" they allegedly oppose. That MIGHT be a fair point if the Grads and Qassans were indeed aimed at Israeli military targets in an attempt to take out some of that high-tech arsenal. But they're not, are they, opus? The Palestinian missiles are aimed at civilian targets in built-up areas. They are intended to kill and maim civilians. One landed in a schoolyard in Beersheba last week. Had the school not been closed by the authorities, the casualties would probably have been horrific. Hardly squibs. Hardly feeble.

No context of incarceration of the original population by the incomers in their own homeland, or the continual harrassment and siege conditions, deliberate collective punishment, total disparity of firepower between the protagonists...oh and the fact that the exchange was once again triggered by targeted assassinations of 'suspects' by high-tech war machines which if the locations of the suspects are as pin-point as Israel boasts should require a policing operation, not a martial response.

I suspect your post is just a red herring to distract from Rachel Corrie's anniversary and the ongoing hunger-dtrike against internment by Hana Shalabi.

YOu say "1) Equally distressing pictures could be found of Israeli victims of Palestinian atrocities."

So where are these pictures of Israeli victims of current "Palestinian atrocities" - where are the photos of Israelis that have been burned, shot, bombed, lost limbs, been hospitalised by Palestinians in the last few days?

There are no "Israeli victims of Palestinian atrocities" being created RIGHT NOW -

RIGHT NOW there are only Palestinian victims of Israeli atrocities

YOu conveniently forget that it was Israel that broke the latest period of quiet, something it invariably does, by assassinating people on the street, using a drone

I've no intention of descending into your diabolic semantic pit and discussing whether a "stone" is a "missile" or not, but if it makes you happier, I can refer to them Grad/Qassam things as "rockets." Clear, now?

BTW, I go by the name of Contrarian here, not contra. Seeing as how you object on other threads when your own handle is misused, any chance you might adopt a simalar standard for your own posts?

@ME

Once again, you're atacking a view I never expressed. I never said the Israeli victims of Palestinian atrocities were happening RIGHT NOW. But there have been plenty in the past decade alone.

And it is bordering on childish to suggest that it is "invariably" Israel who breaks any period of quiet in the region. You might want to rethink that one - hint - google will help you here.

You might like to start with the Hamas attack on the eve of Israel/PLO peace talks in Washington in September 2010. Four Israeli civilians (one of whom was pregnant) were brutally ambushed and shot dead leaving seven orphaned children. Hamas then claimed responsibility for the "heroic operation in Hebron" and launched a macabre celebration that drew 3,000 people in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Nice people.

and me warming the pit and sharpening the spit for so many eternities...

Did you loose your thread on comparative missile definition after setting up the shy?Blowback for Aunt Solly?

I explained the use of contra..its to signify the sympathies you express...or don't you think the Contra deatrh squads were in line with your general unquestioning acceptance of all things Pentagonian?

If you say you think they were the terrorist death squads they were I promise to refer to you as Contrarian henceforth. Overlong as it is, and right-wing conformist as you are.

No problem at all acknowledging that the contras were indeed "terrorist death squads" - I would have thought that's pretty much beyond doubt, no?

So, here goes: I do solemnly declare and affirm that I think the contras were terrorist death squads. Happy now? Honestly, the lengths I go to just for you, opus!

In fact, if you did your research, you'd see I've already said on indymedia (http://www.indymedia.ie/article/101390?author_name=cont...88137 in a post answering direct questions from your good self) that: "Central and South America represent probably the worst aspect of US foreign policy and its backing of so many dictatorships is an embarrassment and a stain on that nation’s record" so it should hardly come as a surprise to you.

A slightly more nuanced view than your attribution to me of a "general unquestioning acceptance of all things Pentagonian?" `

Contrarian will no doubt be very angry and outraged at the people responsoible

You're right there. But I suspect you and I might hold a different view of who the people responsible are. Do the Islamic Jidahists who fired hundreds of missiles into Israel not bear at least SOME of the responsibility for the couinter-attack and the inevitable civilian casualties? Or is it all, in your black-and-white world view, completely, 100% Israels fault?:

Oh, and you might like to look at some of the rubbish your source, the Palestinian Information Centre puts out. Take this, for example:

"Actually, the Israeli occupation is probably the worst occupation ever in the history of mankind, not only for its brutality, but for its durability as well.

Indeed, I would argue that, in many aspects, the Israeli occupation is probably worse than the Nazi occupation of Europe. The Nazis wanted to conquer, pacify and stabilize rather than ethnically cleanse and uproot non-German Europeans as Israel has been doing to the Palestinians. "

And I have to point out that by bisecting your nom de I merely reciprocate what you do to my own...without getting negative response(I'm all for economics).

But that '..counter attack and inevitable civilian casualties..'.

If Israel claims to be strictly targeting its aggressors(I wont address who is the primary aggressor and who the retaliator just yet)and can pin-point their locations with GPS precision...surely it should be a snatch-squad police action, and not the F-16 open war on an incarcerated civilian population that they continually inflict.

Unless of course the purpose is collective punishment and intimidation....and was that not a common Nazi tactic?

......is not a word I'm in the habit of putting to regular daily use so I had to look it up. Apparently it means partisan or favouring a particular viewpoint. Guilty as charged, m'lud. But then, so is just about everybody who posts here, including your good self, particulary on the Israel/Palestine question. It's just that my tendentiousness differs from your tendentiousness.

As to your idea of a "snatch-squad" solution, I'm not sure that would work out in practise. Presumably Hamas wouldn't just let an Israeli policeman or soldier enter and arrest the guilty Palestinian terrorists. So, you'd be talking about a full scale incursion with tanks, artillery, APCs and helicopter air support at a minimum. And even then, the suspects could simply disappear and melt into the civilian population. Even if they could be tracked, an arrest operation would likely result in dozens of civilian casualties at best and a rerun of Cast Lead at worst. Not a good idea. But it would make for a lovely propaganda coup for Hamas. I think the Israelis are just a little bit too smart to fall into that particular trap.

So a Zionist comes on to Indymedia Ireland (probably the country with the most support for occupied Palestine) and starts defending the images of dead and maimed Palestinians. Way to garnish support, derp di derp...

"
Oh, and you might like to look at some of the rubbish your source, the Palestinian Information Centre puts out. Take this, for example:

You seem to be confused, Contrarian between a 'News' report and an 'Opinion' piece.

The two are different. Most adults of my aquaintance are generally able to distinguish between the two

the first contains reports of facts, i.e. events that actually happened - obviously there is some inherent bias irrespective of who is doing the reporting, but as long as the author sticks to factual verifiable events, it is easily recognisable to most normal people as a 'News report').

The second gives us the Authors 'opinion' - An 'opinion' piece is not necessarily factual, nor even based on facts, because, as it says in the Name, it is composed of 'Opinion'.

Iresspective of the opinion itself, it is still mere 'opinion' - your deliberate unwillingness to distinguish between the two, speaks volumes about your overall level of honesty

But then I should not be surprised - I have yet to meet, in nearly 20 years using the net, so much as ONE honest Zionist . . . .mainly because when Zionists and their supports actually speak what they truely feel they just look like racist biggoted shitheads.

A senior cabinet member touched a sensitive nerve in Israel Sunday by appearing to compare its destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah refugee camp to Nazi atrocities against Jews during the Holocaust.

Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, called in a cabinet meeting for an end to the demolitions, describing such a policy as inhumane and liable to lead to war crimes charges against Israel in the International Court of Justice.

And it is bordering on childish to suggest that it is "invariably" Israel who breaks any period of quiet in the region. You might want to rethink that one - hint - google will help you here.

absolutely no need for me to rethink anything at all here - it is a verifiable FACT that Israel is the one that almost always breaks calm-periods by murdering some Palestinian Male, ( *and any children, women, old folk, civilians that it can get within a 100m radius,) in order to start off a new round of violence.

Below is a graph clearly showing Israel's responsibility for consistantly breaking periods of ceasefire/calm by just up and killing some palestinian. The data for the graph comes originally from Isreali organisation Bet Selem

The arrest and transfer process is often accompanied by verbal abuse and humiliation, threats as well as physical violence. Hours later the children find themselves in an interrogation room, alone, sleep deprived, bruised and scared. Unlike Israeli children living in settlements in the West Bank, Palestinian children are not accompanied by a parent and are generally interrogated without the benefit of legal advice, or being informed of their right to silence.

Within eight days of their arrest, the children are brought in chains to a military court where, in most cases, they will see a lawyer and their parents for the first time. Although many children maintain their innocence, in the end at least 90 percent will plead guilty, as this is the quickest way out of a system that denies children bail in 87 percent of cases. Within days of their arrest, nearly two-thirds of the children are transferred to prisons inside Israel in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits such transfers. The practical consequences of this is that many children receive either limited, or no family visits, due to freedom of movement restrictions and the time it takes to issue a permit to visit the prisons.

there is a systematic pattern of ill-treatment, and in some cases torture, of children held in the military detention system, with the majority of the abuse occurring during the first 48 hours." 3 of the 311 children who provided testimonies were arrested while they under 11 years old, but the majority of the children interviewed were detained while they were 16 and 17 years old.

According to the report, 95 percent of the children interviewed stated that their hands had been tied during interrogation, 90 percent had been blindfolded, 75 percent reported physical violence used against them, 33 percent had been strip-searched, and 29 stated they had been shown and/or forced to sign documents — including confessions — written in Hebrew, with no translation or translators available.

12 percent of the children had been put into solitary confinement.

DCI-Palestine also reported that majority (60 percent) of Palestinian children testified that they had been arrested by heavily-armed Israeli forces who snatched them from their homes between midnight and 5am, and then taken to an "unknown location for interrogation.

Out of 311 testimonies, no child was accompanied by a lawyer during their interrogation, and only two children (0.6 percent) were accompanied by a parent.

This is significant because third-party scrutiny of the methods of interrogation can be an effective measure to limit the use of torture, illtreatment and other coercive techniques during questioning.

DCI-Palestine’s report also includes in-depth testimonies from some of the Palestinian children, interviews with medical and psychological experts, and testimonies from former Israeli soldiers — now with the group Breaking the Silence — who participated in the arrest and interrogation of children.

Essentially these children are being Kidnapped by Israelis and subjected to systematic and deliberate imprisonment and torture: mental physical and even sexual

Israeli troops accompanied by tanks and bulldozers have launched a ground incursion into the city of Khan Yunis in the south of Gaza Strip, Press TV reports.

Witnesses said the troops and vehicles started to raze farmland in the area during the early hours of Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Gunfire has also been heard in the area, causing widespread panic among the residents, especially children.

No casualties have been reported.

Israel has escalated such incursions into Gaza over the past few weeks.

Israeli officials claim that the latest incursion was “necessary to comb the area for any Palestinian activities by resistance factions.”

The Thursday attack in Khan Yunis was carried out ahead of the anniversary of the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war against Gaza, which killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.

On Saturday, a Palestinian man was killed in an attack by an Israeli tank in the Bureij town in eastern Gaza.

Residents still live in what is known to be the “world's largest open-air prison” as Israel remains in full control of the airspace, territorial waters and border crossings of Gaza.

Over the past few months, Tel Aviv has increased its attacks on the besieged coastal strip, killing tens of Palestinian people and injuring many more.

The Israeli military frequently attacks the Gaza Strip, saying the actions are being conducted for defensive purposes. However, disproportionate force is always used, in violation of international law, and civilians are often killed or injured.